This episode of the Folklore Podcast is the first featuring expert presentations from the Hidden Charms 2 conference in Salisbury - a conference organised by Brian Hoggard of the Apotropaios website with John Billingsley and Jeremy Harte. The conference featured a day of talks on protection magic, charms, concealed apotropaic objects and similar themes.

In this talk, "Witch Bottles - Findings from the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic" - collections researcher and museum manager Dr Peter Hewitt discusses some of the bottles held at the museum, and argues that we may use folklore to help to decode the meanings that these bottles have for us in the modern world. Dr Hewitt suggests that their uses were far more varied than just as protective devices.